Citadel pays SEC US$22.6m to settle charges it misled clients

London

CITADEL Securities, the market-making arm of billionaire hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin, has agreed to pay US$22.6 million to settle charges that it misled customers about the way it priced trades, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday.

The SEC found that between 2007 and 2010, Citadel used two algorithms to execute stock trades on customers' behalf that often gave investors a worse price for their trades, even when Citadel knew better prices existed elsewhere. The SEC penalised Citadel for failing to disclose the use of those algorithms to clients. "This affected millions of retail orders," said Stephanie Avakian, the acting director of enforcement at the SEC.